“A small percentage of customers will always fall behind in payment and there are certain low socio-economic areas that have bad consumer debt history.”

He offered the same advice for subcontractors in the construction industry where there has been a sad history in recent years of smaller operators going unpaid by larger companies.

“Lots of smaller tradies fail to get a credit application form completed with their major contractor and when they come to us for help in recovering the money we have to tell them there is not much chance,” Mr Mendelson said.

“We have found that Warrnambool building and construction business are struggling, particularly those working as contractors under a larger company where they are often second or third in line to get paid.

“There’s a trickle-down effect — when a contractor isn’t paid he isn’t paying his people.

“Always be wary of taking on a job with someone new — make sure you have the credit details and the name of a company director.”

Prushka, which claims to be Australia’s largest regional debt collection agency, has found a trend in western Victoria of more business operators holding debts higher than $2000 for longer to avoid collection costs.

“This is false economy because if a customer doesn’t pay in 60 days he won’t pay in 90 or 120 days either,” Mr Mendelson said.